Meeting puts Husted in GOP feud

The intraparty feud splitting Ohio Republicans between those loyal to party Chairman Kevin DeWine and those backing Gov. John Kasich might have another prominent player: Secretary of State Jon Husted.

Joe Vardon, The Columbus Dispatch

The intraparty feud splitting Ohio Republicans between those loyal to party Chairman Kevin DeWine and those backing Gov. John Kasich might have another prominent player: Secretary of State Jon Husted.

Husted, who is close to DeWine but has avoided criticizing Kasich in the fight for control of the party, participated in a “confidential” meeting called by a Dayton-area Republican donor on Feb. 7 — the same day as Kasich’s State of the State address in Steubenville.

Richard Chernesky, the attorney and Republican donor who called the meeting in Dayton, said in an email to “Eagles Forum” participants that their “support and contributions in the past to Jon Husted and Kevin DeWine helped them to achieve the offices they now hold and to position them for greater service in the future.”

“However, recent events in Columbus have placed your efforts in jeopardy,” Chernesky said in the email, obtained by The Dispatch, before blasting Kasich for trying to “oust” DeWine from his chairmanship during a presidential-election year.

Chernesky then asked supporters to join him, DeWine and Husted for a 3:30 p.m. meeting at a downtown Dayton law firm to “commit continued support to those who have served us well.”

Husted, who said he didn’t attend Kasich’s 1 p.m. speech in Steubenville because of previously scheduled public-speaking engagements near Dayton that day, confirmed that he attended Chernesky’s meeting. He said he was asked to attend to “provide an update on what’s going on in Columbus, and that’s what I did.”

“I support John Kasich, and I think he’s doing a great job fighting to turn the economy around in this state,” Husted said. “Kevin DeWine is doing a great job leading the Ohio Republican Party, and I support his efforts as well.”

In previous interviews, Husted has declined to discuss his own political aspirations. Yesterday, he said he would “not be put in the position” of picking a side in the DeWine-Kasich feud.

Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder of Medina has publicly sided with Kasich’s effort to seek a change in the party leadership. Some central committeemen have expressed discomfort with being put in the middle of the feud, arguing that it’s inappropriate for Kasich to seek DeWine’s ouster after he led Republicans to a 2010 statewide election sweep.

Chernesky, who has contributed money to both Husted’s and Kasich’s campaigns, did not return messages seeking comment. A spokesman for DeWine said, “The party doesn’t comment publicly on the chairman’s schedule or private meetings with supporters, strategists or donors.”

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols declined to comment, as did Republicans aligned with Kasich working to tilt the state’s Republican central committee toward Kasich in the March?6 primary.

Chernesky’s invitation was dated Feb. 3 — hours after the central committee’s 29-28 vote to change the party’s bylaws to require that a registered Republican has voted in each of the three most-recent statewide GOP primaries to be eligible for committee membership.

The vote was characterized as a victory for DeWine, because it potentially made about a dozen Kasich-aligned candidates ineligible to serve on the 66-member central committee if they win election on March?6.